Mark continued his series on Joseph yesterday morning, looking at Genesis 426-43:34. This is the fulfilment of the long-awaited dream, and he looked at the question of ‘what happens when God’s dream is fulfilled in our lives?’

In some ways, chasing a dream keeps us motivated and fuelled. Even though Joseph had endured slavery, false accusations, imprisonment and then a rise to great power, he had remained faithful to God, possibly motivated on those dark days by the dream itself. Now, as his brothers bow before him, he sees the outworking of the dream, but there is still much to be done before he reveals himself to them.

Joseph’s brothers had to travel from Canaan to Egypt for grain, a long journey of 200 miles. As they travelled back, leaving Simeon as hostage, they must have had many questions and the fact that their silver was returned added to their confusion. They blamed God for this (‘What has God done to us?’ Gen 42:28), even though their own actions were largely at the root of their problems, and they were  understandably frightened. Nonetheless, as Joseph proves, though we often feel God is punishing us when difficult times hit, even the difficult circumstances of life are used by God to fulfil His purposes! Jacob’s reluctance to lose yet another son is understandable, and yet the famine’s severity meant a return journey became inevitable eventually. Life is so often made up of journeys and God has ways of moving us into the right place, even though at times we are reluctant to move.

When we see God move in power in our lives and fulfil the dreams He has given us, there is rejoicing… but there can also be a subsequent sense of anticlimax. What next? When we moved into the new building on Market Street, was that the end of our journey with God? Far from it! God reveals His plans to us in stages, and when one dream is fulfilled, another dream is unveiled. It’s all about the journey: about learning to walk with God by faith each day. Joseph learned so much from the ‘in-between’ stages, and how we live in the journeying is as important as journey’s end.

‘There is a joy in the journey

There’s a light we can love on the way.

There is a wonder and wildness to life

And freedom for those who obey.’ (‘Joy In the Journey’, Michael Card.)

For many years, I struggled to be able to articulate any defence of the creative arts. In my own heart, I believed they were important, for books, music, film and theatre all played a significant role in my childhood and upbringing, but when people would talk about jobs, I felt there was somehow something slightly escapist about the arts when compared to ‘worthy’ jobs such as being a doctor or nurse. How could I justify composing music or writing novels as a profession that was truly worthy when there were so many other practical things to do in this world?

Over the years, I came to see that there is no such thing as a sacred/secular divide and no point thinking that the arts belong on one side of a line with pragmatism on the other. Others articulated far better than I could the worth and value of the arts. Eugene Peterson, for example, says “The artist shows us what happens before it happens. The artist has eyes to connect the visible and the invisible and the skill to show us complete what we in our inattentive distraction see only in bits and pieces.” (Run With The Horses’, P 73) I might not be able to justify spending millions of pounds on a painting or paying an actor a small fortune for performing in a film, but my own life has been so richly blessed by all who have had the courage to be true to their creative selves that I could never dismiss the worth of God’s creative spark in people as irrelevant or unimportant.

That’s why I’m so interested in what Action Space Mobile are hoping to do in Goldthorpe. Their current activities include creative activities for learning for disabled children (their ‘Visibility’ project has received funding from ‘Children in Need’ and offers disabled children aged 8-16 years the opportunity to be involved in arts and drama) and for disabled adults as well as projects working with elderly people with dementia.

These groups are not currently high on the public agenda, but this interest in using the arts to help those who may well be considered marginalised by society reflects God’s priorities, I’m sure. Now they are looking to help those who are unemployed by mentoring and training 24 unemployed people in Goldthorpe in media production skills through the hands-on creation of an online community newspaper, The Goldthorpe Newspaper.  Working with a professional team of artists and storytellers, participants will learn skills in journalism, social media, digital photography, creative writing, factual writing and research and turn local events into world class stories. Learners will be able to use The Goldthorpe Newspaper as a practical example of their skills, to improve their employability.

How to be involved:

If you live in Goldthorpe, are 19 or over, registered unemployed and would like to learn new skills, make new friends and work on the Goldthorpe Newspaper telling stories about Goldthorpe, the Dearne Valley and its people:

• please ring Action Space Mobile on 01226 391 112
• or tell Kate Roberts at Goldthorpe’s Community Shop on Barnsley Road,
• or leave a message at the Dearne Enterprise Centre on 01709 881 181.

Starting in January 2015, the weekly free meetings will be held at the Dearne Enterprise Centre, Barnburgh Lane, Goldthorpe, S63 9PG.

If you don’t fit into those categories, spare a thought for those working with local communities in the creative arts and don’t forget that we all have gifts and talents to help others. Whatever those gifts are, we can offer them to God and He can multiply them!

I’m excited to be able to offer church members the opportunity to buy Christian literature after the service on 30th November! Thanks to offers from CLC Bookshops in Sheffield, we will have a variety of Christian books, CDs, gifts, Christmas cards, Bibles, devotional guides and journals on sale that evening only, so please do come prepared to look… and maybe you will even find some of the answers to your Christmas present dilemmas! Payment for all items must be made on the night.

CLC Bookshops (which has its own Facebook page) is situated on West Street in Sheffield, accessible by Supertram and situated near the University of Sheffield. Set up in 1941, CLC is a global federation of more than 50 like-minded Christian resourcing ministries, united by a common call, an International Constitution and by the commitment to our mission, vision and values. There are 20 CLC bookshops in the UK and about 180 worldwide, plus a number of publishing houses and distribution centres.

Their desire…

• To see people come to faith and maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ and we believe that evangelical Christian literature is an essential part in this process.

Their vision is…

• to operate Christian resource centres that attract and impact the local community.
• to provide relevant Christian resources that build up the Church and transform lives.
• to fulfil our mission objective and contribute to literature-related projects worldwide.

Not everybody is able to get to Christian bookshops, however, so now the bookshop is coming to the church! Depending on how successful this first session goes, there may be further opportunities to buy resources at church. We hope people will be encouraged and inspired by the range of material on offer.

There are a number of different meetings coming soon. On Friday 28th November at 6:30 p.m., the Salvation Army is hosting a ‘Pamper Evening’ for ladies, so if you would like to have a massage or some other beauty treatment, that’s the place to be!

The parish church is holding a Christmas Fair on Saturday 29th November from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

Furlong Road Methodist Church are holding a Christmas Fair on Saturday 6th December from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. All are welcome to attend. Later that evening, at 6 p.m., we are holding the ‘Churches Together’ community carol service at the parish church in Goldthorpe (on Lockwood Road), with refreshments served after the service. Do come along to that if you are able!

Meetings in December will focus on the coming of the Lord at Christmas. Morning meetings start at 10.30 a.m., with a carol service at Cherry Tree Court being held on 14th December.

Evening meetings will start at 6 p.m.:

• 7th December is the family service, looking at the theme ‘Whiter Than Snow.’ There will be a range of activities, quizzes and games for all to be involved with during that service.
• 14th December is the carol service, featuring a ‘Christingle activity’ and the Sunday School choir!
• 21st December is our Christmas drama called ‘Cosmic Christmas’
• 28th December will look at ‘What’s next after Christmas?’, reminding us that Christ is for life, not just for Christmas!

The Parent & Toddler Christmas Party will be on Friday 12th December from 9.30 until 11.00 a.m. (this is the last meeting for that group until after Christmas) and the church will also hold its usual New Year’s Day party on 1st January 2015, starting at 4 p.m.

Midweek meetings will continue in December, on Thursdays at 7.30 p.m. However, on Christmas Day itself, we will be holding a short service in the morning (starting at 10.30 a.m. and guaranteed – as far as it depends on us! – to finish by 11.30 a.m. to allow you all to go on home for your Christmas lunch!)

There are invitations with all these details available at church, so please take one and pass some on to friends, family and neighbours if you can.

One of the most important lessons I have learned in life is that what God says goes. Mary’s response to the angelic announcement that she was to be the mother of the Messiah has become my daily prayer: ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ (Luke 1:38) What God says is the final word. What He says will come to pass, however impossible that may seem to our natural eyes. He is the One who has the power to do what He has promised (Rom 4:21), who ‘gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.’ (Rom 4:17)

The song ‘Awesome Is He’ takes the theme of God’s words and reminds us of some of the many promises God has made to us. Our part is then to believe, to ‘rise up’, to live by the truth of God’s words rather than by the lies of the enemy, the misguided beliefs of the world or our own contorted thinking. When we do this, we see the impossible become possible and the miracles happen.

‘You say, mountains can move by faith.
You say, even the dead can be raised.
You say, You’re mighty and strong to save.
You say, You are the only way.
We believe, we believe.

Our God, awesome is He
And He reigns with power and authority
In heaven, on earth His praise will be heard
Lift Him up, lift Him up, lift Him up!

You are able to do all things.
You are alive and at work in me.
We believe, we believe.

Rise up, people of God
Rise up, sing of His love
There’s no other
There’s no greater than our God.’ (‘Awesome Is He’, Worship Central)

Last week I attended the funeral of a friend and Pastor Joy Gascoigne spoke from Rom 8:31 on that occasion. Most of us remember that verse as containing the precious truth ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ and that was indeed an important point stressed in Joy’s tribute. But she actually focussed more on the first part of the verse ‘What, then, shall we say?’, commenting that at difficult times – times of suffering and bereavement in particular – this is often how we feel. We’re not sure how to approach those in need; we’re not sure what to say. We feel our own inadequacy and helplessness very much as we watch our loved ones go through struggles and feel powerless to help.

What do we say when people are hurting and grieving and angry and bitter and resentful? What do we say when we feel abandoned by God, let down, disappointed, rejected? What do we say to our own souls, but even more, what do we say to others?

Luke Hellebronth’s song ‘Stand Up’ has the line in it ‘When we don’t know what to do, our eyes will be fixed on You.’ It’s pointless trying to find answers in the world. Our only hope is to fix our eyes on God and listen for His still, small voice. The book of Job wrestles with questions about suffering and how to find God’s love in the midst of agony. At the end of that book, when God reminds Job of His majesty and power (but still does not answer all the questions!), Job says ‘Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.‘ (Job 42:3) Unless we spend time with God, nurturing that relationship with Him, we will never have anything worth saying and we still need to understand that there are times when words are not the right response anyway! Our first responsibility has to be to walk with God and everything then flows from that.

Secondly, often we don’t have to say anything, anyway. Our presence and tears can comfort just as well as words. We often think we have to have all the answers to ‘fix’ everything, but mostly people want love, acceptance and understanding just as much as ‘solutions’. Quite often, there are no solutions people can provide anyway; some situations are beyond our capability to solve! Just being there can communicate a great deal. Lily Allen said, talking about how she had coped with the stillbirth of her child (which must rank as one of the most awful thing that can happen to anyone), ‘Even though it was the most unfortunate thing that can ever happen to a person, I was very fortunate in the sense that I have a loving partner to go home to and share that experience with.’  Friendship and loving support often don’t need words. We share by being there.

Thirdly, truth is truth, even if it is not what we want to hear. When we go through suffering and feelings of rejection and pain, we need to be reminded of God’s truth. Often, when we’re railing against God, people and the universe, what we want is for people to share our point of view. We want people’s sympathy. We want their understanding. We want their compassion. All of those things are important. However, at some point, we have to bring truth and perspective to the situation. And truth can be piercing and not what we want to hear; it can be cutting. (Heb 4:12) Nonetheless, truth is the only thing that can set people free. (John 8:32) Sometimes we are strong enough to remind ourselves of God’s truths even when we are feeling low, but on other occasions, we need people to speak His word of truth to us to help to anchor us in His love and mercy. God’s word is powerful enough to work within us, even if we don’t always receive it graciously in the first place!

Fourthly, love never fails. We will fail often. We will say the wrong thing. We will not understand. Quite often, we will feel that God asks too much of us in commanding us to love as He loves!  However, this ‘love’ business was never meant to be done in our own strength. God’s love in us is the only thing that will last… which is why we have to remain in God and allow His life to shine through us, why we have to fix our eyes on Him. (Col 3:1) We’re back to where we started…!